Nanotechnology research among some leading OIC member states

In this study we present an overview of the research activities in nanotechnology for the period 2001–2011 for six selected countries belonging to the Organization of Islamic cooperation (OIC). The selection has been made based on the research output of these countries. The countries are Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. The factors considered are the number of publications, citations per paper, p-index, and collaborative research output. Iran with 7,795 publications and an annual growth rate of 41 % leads the group, followed by Turkey with 3,169 publications and an annual growth rate of 29 %. Turkey however, has a much better citation per paper (8.96), and p-index (63.34) as compared to Iran (4.59 and 54.36, respectively). We can classify the six countries into two categories. Those, that have a well coordinated national program in nanotechnology, namely, Iran, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia and those that do not have any national program but are still showing a reasonable good activity in nanotechnology namely Turkey, Egypt, and Pakistan. A brief account of the initiatives taken by the six selected countries of OIC in the field of nanotechnology is also presented.